Must There Be a Superman?

Cut to CAPITOL
Senator Finch, Wallace by her side, talks to the press. At a certain point, this broadcast is seen being watched by Lois in her taxi and Clark in the Daily Planet press room.
SENATOR FINCH
How do we determine what's good? In a democracy, good is a conversation not a unilateral decision. So, I urge Superman, to come to this hearth of the people tomorrow. To see those who have suffered.The world needs to know what happened in that desert. And to know what he stands for. How far will he take his power. Does he act by our will, or by his own?

In the LexCorp labs, Lex Luthor stares at the huge Kryptonite rock inside the glovebox.
Cut to SMALLVILLE (NIGHT)
Martha Kent talks to Clark.
MARTHA KENT
People hate what they don't understand. But they see what you do, and they know who you are.You're not a killer. A threat?I never wanted this world to have you. Be their hero, Clark. Be their monument. Be their angel. Be anything they need you to be.Or be none of it. You don't owe this world a thing.You never did.

Cut to DC (MORNING)
Swanwick and Lois are sitting in a bench by the river.
SWANWICK
CIA thinks the desert was a setup. Somebody wanted Superman to look guilty.
LOIS LANE
The bullet?
Flashback to the desert events, before Swanwick returns the bullet.
SWANWICK
The metal was developed by a private company.
LOIS LANE
What company?
SWANWICK
LEXCORP.

LOIS LANE
Lex Luthor?
SWANWICK
He also had private security contractors in the desert compound.
Lois remembers Anatoly.
LOIS LANE
Go on record.
SWANWICK
Not a chance. It's classified. I happen to like my job.
LOIS LANE
It doesn't make sense. You said that the ambush was arranged to frame Superman, but how could they know that he'll show up in the...
Flashback, Superman arriving to rescue Lois.
LOIS LANE
...in the middle of the desert. Thank you.
Lois runs away.
Cut to CAPITOL
Security scans Wallace Keefe with a metal detector as reporter Soledad O’Brien talks, and his wheelchair eventually approaches her.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN
Alright, come on through. The Senate hearing is expected to get under way in any minute now.
Of course the big unknown in all of this is: Will Superman show up? That is what they're really waiting to see. Mr. Keefe. Mr. Keefe. Soledad O'Brien, "In the Moment". Quick question for you. You're heading in to meet with the senators. What would you tell them?

In the Wayne Enterprises meeting room, Bruce is watching this broadcast.
WALLACE
Um. I've come here to tell them to wake up. This is flesh and blood. He's delivered a war here. And this... (points to his amputated legs) This is what war looks like. I have nothing.
SOLEDAD
There are plenty of people, sir, who would say he's their hero.
WALLACE
He is not a hero!
BRUCE WAYNE
Grace, can you get Greg up here please, right now.

Cut to CAPITOL, CORRIDOR
Senator Finch and her cohorts are walking down the hallway.

LEX LUTHOR
Senator! Hi, you. Don't go anywhere. I want to talk to you. You know what? [turns to…] Mercy? You go in and...make sure no one takes my seat.
SENATOR FINCH
So, what'd you been up to?
LEX LUTHOR
I'm just here to tell my story. That I was willing to finance a Kryptonian deterrent, but a certain junior Senator from Kentucky decided to block it. Yes, the Chair of the Committee on Superman is soft on security.
In the Wayne HQ, Greg approaches Bruce with a stack of papers.
BRUCE WAYNE
Greg, why hasn't he been getting our checks?
GREG
He is, Mr. Wayne. He gets a check from the victims fund every month. He returns them.
Bruce sees the first paper, with an attached check onto which “BRUCE WAYNE, OPEN YOUR EYES” was scribbled in red ink.
SOLEDAD (VO)
An employee of Wayne financial who lost both his legs in those horrific events in Metropolis that happened 2 years ago.
The next paper reads “Bruce, NO TRUCE”…
BRUCE
Jesus.
…and then “B WAYNE, I HAUNT YOU”, “ BRUCE WAYNE = BLIND”…
BRUCE
Why haven't I seen this?
GREG
I'm sorry. I'll get to the bottom of it.

In DC, the crowd is ecstatic as something approaches from the sky.

SOLEDAD (VO)
And there he is. Superman is here. He's actually at the United States Capitol. This is really a historic moment.
Martha Kent is seeing the broadcast from the diner where she works as an waitress. Seeing her son makes her worried.
SOLEDAD (VO)
Nor we expect that Superman would give some kind of a statement to the Senate to the American people, and of course to the world.

Inside the capitol, Senator Barrows gets a text message.

SENATOR BARROWS
He's here. He came. He's above the Capitol.

LEX LUTHOR
Ow. You are going to be on the hot seat in there, June bun.

June puts on her coat.

SENATOR FINCH
I grew up on a farm. I know how to wrestle a pig.

LEX LUTHOR
Do you know the oldest lie in America, Senator? It's that power can be innocent. Good luck.

June and Barrows walk towards the auditorium.

Cut to OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL
A cop tries to stop Lois, before she shows her press pass and lets her go. Lois eventually gets by the barricade separating the people from the Capitol stairs, where Superman lands. The crowd is divisive: along with supporters with “Superman Saves” shirts and chanting his name, there are angry people screaming “Get out!” and holding signs reading things such as “SUPERMAN=ILLEGAL ALIEN”, ”THIS IS OUR WORLD, NOT YOURS!”, “EARTH BELONGS TO HUMANS”,”GOD HATES ALIENS”, “GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!”, “WHEN INVASION BECOMES REALITY, REVOLT BECOMES DUTY!”.
Cut to: SENATE
Superman walks the corridors, making everyone’s heads turn.

Cut to: WAYNE ENTERPRISES
GREG
Another one came this morning, Mr. Wayne.

Greg hands another envelope as Bruce watches Superman on TV.

Cut to: SENATE
As June talks to Senator Purrington, Superman enters the room walking. He goes to the defendant's post.

SENATOR FINCH
Let me say at the outset that I am grateful to our witness for coming before us today.

Superman notes Wallace on the corner.

SENATOR FINCH
This is how a democracy works. We talk to each other. We act by the consent of the govern, sir, I have sat here before to say that shadow interventions will not tolerate by this Committee.

Mercy notes Lex still hasn’t arrive.

SENATOR FINCH
Neither will lies. Because today is a day for truth. Because only by speaking...

The senator notes a suspicious jar with a yellow liquid in her desk. Her sudden pause startles everyone else in the room.

SENATOR FINCH
Only by working... together, can we... can we...can we... Can we create a free and a...

She turns the jar, it is labeled "GRANNY'S PEACH TEA". Once June notes Lex Luthor's chair is empty, her shock enhances.

SENATOR FINCH
Oh, my God!

Wallace ‘s wheelchair explodes, destroying most of the Capitol.

Reaction shots of the startled crowd outside seeing the fireball, Martha Kent dropping her coffee pot upon hearing the explosion on the TV, and ultimately Lois Lane in the middle of the crowd (where a police horse is scared). Superman is eventually shown intrigued in the middle of the inferno.

Cut to WAYNE ENTERPRISES
As Bruce sees the destruction on TV, he opens the envelope. Inside there's a newspaper "WAYNE TOWER DEVASTATED" with red text written on it, "YOU LET YOUR FAMILY DIE". Bruce gets angry. Cut to black.

Cut to LEXCORP
Police surround the headquarters, where the firemen are trying to put out the fire on the entry post and EMTs take out the injured. Lex arrives in a motorcycle, walks past the corridor filled with bullet shells, and after going through the laboratory’s broken glass doors, sees that the glovebox has been opened, with the Kryptonite replaced by a Batarang.
Cut to DC HOTEL
Lois is watching the news…
REPORTER (VO)
Capitol Police are confirming to CNN that the suspected bomber is Wallace Vernon Keefe. Now these sources also say...
…while trying to talk on her cell phone.
LOIS
Clarke, it's me again. Can you...
She turns it off when seeing Superman is waiting in the balcony.
REPORTER (VO)
gotten explosive device into the hearing by concealing them inside his wheelchair. As for Superman, he was in the room, but obviously failed to stop him.
Lois opens the door to the outside.
SUPERMAN
I didn't see it, Lo. Standing right there and I didn't see it.

LOIS LANE
Clark, there are people behind this.

SUPERMAN
I'm afraid I didn't see it because I wasn't looking. All this time. I've been living my life the way my father saw it. Mending wrongs for a ghost. Thinking I'm here to do good. Superman was never real. It's just a dream of a farmer from Kansas.

LOIS LANE
That farmer's dream is all some people have. It's all that gives them hope. [presses the insignia on Superman's chest] This means something.

SUPERMAN
It did on my world. My world doesn't exist anymore.
He flies away.

Cut to OUTSIDE KRYPTONIAN SHIP
A briefcase is opened. Petri dishes with fingerprints are taken out – General Zod’s, which Lex has put on his own fingers to press the “lock” on the ship’s door. It opens.
Cut to INSIDE KRYPTONIAN SHIP
Lex enters the flooded ship, and eventually finds a port where Superman’s command key lies. He makes it enter the “key port” again, and reactivates the ship.

SHIP PA
Wel.. Wel... come... Welcome. Analysis revealing ship operating at 37% efficiency.Would you, like to assume command?

LEX LUTHOR
Yes, I would. Yes, I would.

SHIP PA
Very well. Let's begin. The Kryptonian archives contains knowledge from 100,000 different worlds.

LEX LUTHOR
Good. Teach me.